I Would Die For You
by Jamsiey0206
Summary: Dana Scully is recovering from the death of her lying, deceitful husband when an old friend re-enters her life. Secrets must come out. A/U
1. The End of the Beginning

CHAPTER 1  
  
Pachebel's Canon in D played softly as she walked down the aisle, a veil softly obscuring her vision. He walked next to her, his arm looped through hers. She had asked him to walk her down the aisle because he was the closet person to her. Not everyone agreed with her decision. Her brother had refused to come to the wedding because of it. But she didn't care, she was happy. They paused at the end of the aisle, and he lifted the veil to kiss her on the cheek. Dana stared up at him, and wondered again if she was making the right decision. He whispered to her "I'll always be here, no matter what." Then he put the veil back over her face and placed her arm in the arm of the man standing there waiting. He sat down next to her mother and the wedding mass began.  
  
Dana got through everything up until the priest said, "Do you, Dana Katherine Scully, take Patrick Connor Malone to be your lawfully wedded husband, for better or for worse, as long as you both shall live?" She paused and Patrick looked at her questioningly. She closed her eyes for just a second, and imagined waking up next to Patrick for the rest of her life. Then she glanced at the man who had given her away. Fox Mulder was looking at the floor, diverting his attention from her and Patrick. The priest cleared his throat.  
  
"I do," she squeaked out and the congregation let out a collective breath. The service continued.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Five years later, Dana sat in the edge of her bed staring at a picture of her and Patrick on their wedding day. She remembered that day so vividly. The reception had been beautiful. She could still hear Mulder's toast to her and Patrick. It had been mumbled and delivered to the floor, but she had heard every word. "I hope you too are . . . umm . . . really happy. And I think you make a great couple." He had looked at her then, and said what she still heard in her dreams every night. "Scully, I hope this makes you happy, and ummm . . . I hope you know I will always be there for you. This will be good for you. Patrick, he'll give you everything . . . " Then he had trailed off.  
  
They had had one dance together. He hadn't said anything to her during the entire song. They had dance to Bryan Adam's "Everything I Do, I Do It For You." At the end, he had whispered in her ear that he would, that he'd die for her, just like the song said. Then he had left. She had only seen him once since. He had stopped by right after the birth of her daughter, eight months after the wedding. He had brought her a gift. At first, Dana had thought it was just a stuffed alien. But when she looked closer, she saw that a delicate locket hung around the alien's neck. Inside was a picture of her as a little girl. She didn't know where he had gotten the picture, but the locket was such a thoughtful, beautiful gift, she didn't bother to ask. She just hugged him and closed her eyes against the secret that she was keeping from him.  
  
Now five years later, she still hadn't told anyone the truth. Emma came running into her mother's room and jumped up onto the bed next to her.  
  
"Momma, when is daddy coming home?"  
  
"Soon, darling, soon." But Dana didn't know for sure. Patrick had been gone for a week, but not on business. She suspected that he was with one of his girlfriends. She had first found out about his cheating about seven months ago. At first, she had been sure that he would get over it soon, but it hadn't happened yet.  
  
Last Monday, they had gotten into a huge argument. She had told him that she knew and wanted a divorce. He had said some hurtful things and accused her of cheating on him. She had denied it, of course. But then he had said that she was cheating with her heart because she would always love Mulder more than she loved him. He brought up the fact that before she said "I do" on their wedding day, she had looked at Mulder. She didn't know that he had seen. But that didn't justify him cheating on her. So she had asked him to leave.  
  
The sound of the doorknob set her on alert. Emma ran out of the room, excited that her daddy was home. Dana was not. She stood up slowly, unsure what to say to her husband. She should have never married him. He had scared her Monday. He seemed so angry, ready to snap. There had been many moments like that during their marriage. He had never hit her, but he had come close. Their marriage had been one filled with abuse, just not the physical kind. Emotional and verbal attacks happened often in her home. So far, she'd been able to protect her children, but she didn't know how long she could keep it up.  
  
When she had first met Patrick, she had been attracted to his quiet manner and dedication to his work. He had been working at Headquarters, in Accounting. She had run into him, actually run into him in the hall one day. They had got to talking and realized that they had a lot in common. After dating secretly for six months, they had finally told everyone. She remembered Mulder's reaction. He had feigned disinterest, pretending he was preoccupied with a case file. It had hurt her, but she didn't tell him.  
  
Patrick had started drifting away from her shortly after Emma's birth. Something about her flipped a switch in him. He started drinking and disappeared for days at a time. She even suspected drugs about a year later. Then, just after their two-year anniversary, he joined AA and started to clean up. She gave birth to their son, Danny, a year later. After his birth, though, Patrick started his downward spiral again. She stayed with him, mainly for the kids, but she just couldn't do it any longer.  
  
Dana headed for the back door, breathing deep to prepare herself for a confrontation she wasn't ready for. When she got to the kitchen, she looked around for Emma. The girl was sitting at the kitchen table with Margaret Scully.  
  
"Hello, dear, I just stopped by to bring Emma the doll clothes she left at my house. And I picked up a little something for her and Danny on the way here."  
  
She handed Dana a bag with cookies and candy in it.  
  
"Oh mom, you shouldn't have. But thanks, and you know that the kids won't be the only ones enjoying these tonight. Emma, why don't you take a cookie for you, and take one to Danny."  
  
"Ok Momma."  
  
"Say thanks to your Grandma, Em."  
  
"Thanks Grammy!" The girl flung herself at the older Scully, kissing her on the cheek. Then she grabbed two cookies and ran off toward the back of the house.  
  
Margaret Scully looked at her daughter closely. "Dana, what's wrong? You seem troubled. Where's Patrick?"  
  
Dana looked at the floor, the walls, anything to avoid looking her mother in the eye. When she finally looked up, tears overflowed and poured down her cheeks.  
  
"Oh mom, I just, I didn't want to involve you. It's been bad for so long. I know I told you about his drinking, but he's cheating on me, and I think he's doing drugs. I told him last week that I want a divorce. And he's been gone since."  
  
"Dana, you shouldn't have to go though this alone. Do you think he'll be back?"  
  
"Well, mom, I kind of told him to . . . " The doorbell rang, cutting her off. She wiped her eyes and headed for the front door.  
  
A young woman stood on the porch, looking nervous.  
  
"Hi, is are you Patrick Malone's wife?"  
  
"Yes, how may I help you?"  
  
"Well . . . ummm . . . Mrs. Malone, I really don't want to be the one who has to tell you this . . . " She trailed off.  
  
"Actually, it's Dr. Scully."  
  
"Ok, well, Dr. Scully, I don't know if you knew this, but your husband has been having an affair for about a year and a half."  
  
"I was slightly aware." Dana's tone was icy. "Is this affair with you?"  
  
"No, no, it was with my sister. But, umm . . . well . . . the reason I am here is to tell you that Patrick and Jessica died in a house fire late last night."  
  
Dana just gaped at her. "Excuse me? My husband is dead?"  
  
"Yes. They said that they would come to notify you, but I thought I should do it. After all, my sister was having an affair with him." But Dana wasn't listening anymore. She had zoned out, was just staring past the woman, at nothing. Her mother walked into the room.  
  
"Dear, what's wrong?"  
  
Dana snapped out of it at that, and turned to Margaret.  
  
"It's Patrick, he's . . . dead."  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Three days later, Dana was playing the part of grieving widow at her husband's funeral. She sat in her folding chair, holding little Danny, staring past Patrick's brother, Colin, giving the eulogy. She was looking over the flowers atop the casket at the blue sky. Figured that Patrick's funeral would be on a beautiful day. She glanced over at her mother. Her mother was sitting there, holding Emma, pretending, just like Dana. She was the only one who knew the truth about Patrick and her marriage.  
  
She had decided to keep everything from Patrick's family. She genuinely liked them. They were good people, and she didn't want their image of their beloved oldest son tarnished. What would be the point? So she hadn't told them that he had been sleeping with Jessica Littrelle. She made up some lie about him doing some outside tax work to make a little extra cash.  
  
She looked back at the sky, but this time, when she tuned her head, a dark sedan sat with the sun glinting off the hood. The driver side door opened. A tall, dark haired man stepped out and raised his sunglasses. Fox Mulder nodded at her, stood for a moment, got back into his car, and was gone. In those few seconds that he was there, she actually considered jumping up and running to him. But by the time the thought crossed her mind he was gone.  
  
Dana looked back at Colin as he told of the great man his brother had been. They had asked her to give the eulogy, but she had told everyone that she wasn't ready to talk about him yet. But the truth was that she couldn't talk about what a great man he had been, because she didn't have anything to say. She couldn't think of him as a great man. All she could think of was the lies, the alcohol, and the other women. 


	2. The Beginning of the End

CHAPTER 2  
  
Four months later, Dana was finally home after staying with various members of her family. She sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the same picture she had been staring at the day she found out about the fire. She had packed up all the pictures and all of Patrick's things. This one picture was all that was left. She ran her finger over Patrick's face. He had looked so handsome that day. His black tux had hung perfectly on his frame. He hadn't started drinking yet, so his stomach was flat, not round from too many beers and shots. His strawberry blond hair had been longer and thicker then, flopping over his forehead and brushing his eyes. Those dark brown eyes had been filled with so much love that day. So much had changed.  
  
She shoved the frame into the box. The glass cracked on the corner of another frame. The split went right up between the two of them, branching off into another crack right across Patrick's face. How appropriate, she thought cynically.  
  
Her children were dealing well, considering. Danny still asked her when Daddy would be home, but he was too young to understand. Emma understood that her daddy was never coming home, but she still cried at night. She knew what death was, and that he was gone for good. She was very mature for a four year old. It broke Dana's heart.  
  
Emma walked into her mother's room, dragging a suitcase.  
  
"You ready, baby?" Dana reached out and pulled her daughter into her lap.  
  
"Yes mama. I packed my toys, but I can't fit none of Danny's toys in here." Emma looked so serious.  
  
"That's okay hon., I'll put his toys in another bag."  
  
"Mama, why are we going to Grammy's house?"  
  
"Sweetie, mommy can't be here in this house. I thought I could, but it reminds me too much of Daddy. We're just going to take a little vacation at Gramma's. It'll be fun. You had fun at Uncle Bill's and Uncle Charlie's didn't you?" Emma nodded. "Well, Gramma misses you and she really wants us to come to her house. Okay?"  
  
"Yes mama." Emma trudged out of the room, dragging the suitcase. Dana walked over to her closet and began pulling out clothes randomly, throwing them into the open bag on the bed. She had thought she would be able to handle being back, but after only three days, it was all too much for her. The house did remind her of Patrick, but it wasn't that she missed him. This house represented the last five years of her life-years tainted by the lies, the secrets, and the longing for a different life. It represented everything she had given up for a man who had destroyed her. She couldn't live in this house. Her kids didn't know it yet, but they were staying at her mother's until she found them a new house. She had the money from the life insurance to use for a down payment, and then the sale of this house would pay for the new one.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Margaret Scully stood on her front porch, watching her daughter's blue SUV pull into the driveway. She was worried about Dana. She wasn't handling Patrick's betrayal and subsequent passing very well. She wasn't exactly broken up over her loss, but she seemed distant and withdrawn, even from her own children.  
  
Dana threw the car into park, happy to be rid of the horrible atmosphere of her home. She unloaded her children and their belongings and led them up to the porch where her mother stood waiting. They went through the usual hugs and greetings, and then the suitcases were carried inside. As soon as they were in the house, the children ran to play in the big backyard on the swing-set Charlie had built for all the kids.  
  
After they were out of earshot, Margaret went into the kitchen.  
  
"Coffee, dear?" she asked Dana.  
  
"Yeah, that sounds fine." Dana sounded distracted.  
  
Margaret poured two cups and handed one to Dana. They walked to the dining table in front of the sliding glass door. It looked out on the backyard, and they could watch the kids from there. Dana wrapped her hands around her mug and looked out at her children playing.  
  
"I'm worried about Emma," she said.  
  
"Why's that?" her mother asked.  
  
"She cries every night. She doesn't ask when he's coming home, like Danny does. She just asks God why he had to die."  
  
"Dana, that's to be expected. Her father dies. I know he wasn't a great man, but Emma doesn't know that. A little girl is always going to see her daddy as the greatest man to have ever lived. You can't change that. When she's older, she'll understand."  
  
"I know Mom, but how long do you think it will take her?"  
  
"I don't know, dear, I really don't know. But you know who I'm worried about? I'm worried about you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I know you didn't really love Patrick in the end, but he was your husband. I know this has to be hard on you. I know what it's like to lose a husband, but not in the same way. When daddy died, at least I know he died with me and you kids in his heart. I just don't know if you are handling this well, keeping it all inside."  
  
"Mom, I just don't really know what I feel. I don't know how to feel about this. I feel kind of hollow inside. It's like I feel nothing for him at all. He left his family for weeks at a time to go be with some other woman. A real man doesn't do that. If he wanted out, he should have asked for a divorce. I would have gladly given him one. He shouldn't have tried to have the best of both worlds. You can't have everything you want. You can't." With that, Dana slammed her coffee cup down on the table. The coffee sloshed over the rim onto the cream linen tablecloth. "Oh Mom, I'm sorry."  
  
Margaret reached across the table and squeezed her daughter's hand. "I know, Dana, I know."  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Later that night, Dana was tucking Emma and Danny in. Danny looked up at her after he said his prayers. "Mommy, will daddy know where to find us at Gramma's house?"  
  
"Honey," she said, pushing back the hair from his forehead, "Daddy isn't going to come here. And he isn't going to go home either. The only way you will see your daddy is in your memories and in your dreams and in your heart. Daddy is gone."  
  
"He'll come back," Danny said, matter-of-factly. "I know he will. He won't leave me forever. He loves me. Whenever he went away before, he always came back."  
  
Tears welled up in Dana's eyes at her son's unfailing devotion to his bastard of a father. She kissed him on the forehead and turned the lamp off.  
  
"Sleep tight, baby. Sweet dreams."  
  
In Emma's room, she said her usual prayers, then got to the part where she asked God to take care of the people in her life.  
  
"Please watch over mommy and Grammy and Danny. Please keep all my aunts and uncles and cousins safe. And please keep Daddy safe in heaven. Please let him watch over us and love us forever. Amen."  
  
Then the tears started. Dana sat down on the bed and held Emma until her crying subsided into quiet whimpers.  
  
"Em, you going to be okay, sweetie?" The little girl nodded silently and cuddled her ragged stuffed alien. "If you need me, just call. I'll be downstairs with Gramma, okay?" Then Dana turned off the lights and shut the door.  
  
She walked down the stairs to the den where her mother was sitting in front of the fire. She sat down on the leather loveseat and wrapped a blanket around her legs.  
  
"He's in town you know," her mother said, out of the darkness.  
  
"Who?" Dana asked.  
  
"You know exactly who I'm talking about. Fox Mulder." With her mother's announcement, Dana's heart skipped a beat. "We've kept in touch. He moved to Chicago four years ago, but he's back. He's in D.C. for good. They're reopening the X-Files. I know you saw him at Patrick's funeral. He felt that he didn't have a right to be there, but he did want you to know he cared. He just didn't want to intrude. When was the last time you spoke to him?"  
  
Dana couldn't get the words out at first. "Umm . . . Right after Emma's birth. He brought here that locket and the stuffed alien. That was four years ago."  
  
"Four years is a long time to go without seeing your best friend, dear."  
  
"Mom, I haven't talked to him in four years. What do I have to say to him now?"  
  
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's time he knows the truth. Don't you think it's his right?"  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Dana lay in bed later that night, thinking. She couldn't believe her mother had said that. She had no idea what she was referring to. There was no way she could know the real truth.  
  
After her mother's proclamation, she hadn't known what to say. She had just stood up, and said she was going to bed. She knew that it was basically an admission that she was hiding something, but she had panicked. There was no way she was sleeping now. Mulder was definitely on her mind tonight. She hadn't spoken to him in ages, she had no idea what he was up to these days, and yet she still felt unbelievably close to him. She was sure that if she saw him again, they would have no trouble talking for hours. Right before she finally drifted off to sleep, she admitted to herself that she missed him. A lot. 


	3. Moment of Truth

Disclaimer: I forgot this before, but here it is: I do not own Dana Scully, Fox Mulder, or Margaret Scully. I also do not own the X-Files. They are the property of 10:13. If I did own them, then I wouldn't be struggling to make tuition next year! But I do own Emma, Danny, Patrick, and all those other people y'all don't recognize!  
  
A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys. This is my first fanfic, although I am an avid reader! I finally got up the courage to write one, so cut me some slack here. I'm carrying a 17-hour course load, so I don't know how regular the updates will be! Keep watching-I will try to get them up at least every three days.  
  
CHAPTER 3  
  
The next morning at breakfast, Dana worked up the courage to bring up Mulder.  
  
"Mom, when did you last talk to Mulder?" she asked.  
  
"Last week. He called to say that he'd be back indefinitely. I told him to stop by for lunch one of these days."  
  
"What? Did he say . . . is he coming? When?" Dana's mind was racing with thoughts of the one man who could rip her life apart, or put it back together again.  
  
"I think he said Wednesday. Oh, dear, that's today, isn't it? Honestly, Dana, when we talked I had no idea that you would be here. I forgot about it till just now."  
  
"When is he coming?"  
  
"Around one, I believe. Dana, you cannot possibly think about not being here. It would upset him to know that you were avoiding him. And I won't lie to him for you."  
  
"I just don't know what to say to him."  
  
"How can you not want to see him? This is the man you had walk you down the aisle instead of your own brother. You knew Bill wouldn't come because of Fox and it upset Patrick, yet you insisted on it. You loved him that much. How can you have nothing to say to the man who was your closest friend for so many years?" Margaret Scully knew that her daughter had felt incredibly strongly for Fox Mulder - they had been the closest that two people could get without being lovers. It had been an amazing relationship, and it had broken her heart to see it break up. Fox would have been a remarkable influence in the children's lives. He was such a warm, devoted man, and her grandchildren would have been lucky to have "Uncle" Mulder in their lives. To know that the chance of that was basically hopeless now saddened her.  
  
"You just don't understand. There are things you don't know." Dana's voice broke on this statement. She knew that her secret was too important to let go, even to her mother. She knew Margaret would never  
  
"Then tell me, Dana. I'm your mother. I knew something was going on. No matter how horrible it is I will love you anyway. I would never judge you darling."  
  
"Mom, I just can't. Not now. Please, just believe me."  
  
"Please, Dana. You need to get this off your chest."  
  
"No, Mom. Not now, and maybe not ever."  
  
"Alright dear, But you will tell me eventually. You can't keep this bottled up inside forever. I know you, Dana, and the truth will come out eventually."  
  
Dana knew that her mother was right. She couldn't keep it from her forever. Her mother was her best friend in the whole world. That title had gone to Mulder a few years ago, but they had since lost touch. Her mother would know the truth eventually, but now was not the time. She had to at least think about who should find out first. In the back of her mind, she knew that he had the right to know before anyone else, but she couldn't bring herself to even think of saying the words. Especially now that she was going to see him in a few short hours.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
At a quarter past one, Dana was pacing the front room. She watched the street for any car that looked like it might stop at her mother's house. With every car that drove by, her stomach lurched a little. She was so nervous. She knew exactly why, but she didn't really understand. It wasn't like she was actually going to tell him. She wasn't going to today, She wasn't sure if she ever would.  
  
She was so deep in thought she didn't notice the silver sedan pull in behind her SUV. But the slam of the car door wrenched her attention back to the present. She looked to the window. She could see the car, but the driver had disappeared from sight.  
  
Then the doorbell rang.  
  
A/N: Sorry this chapter was so short. I thought that their first meeting in four years deserved it's own chapter. It will be up in the next couple days, I promise! 


	4. One Instant in Time

Sorry-this took longer than I thought it would. I had a friend staying with me this weekend, so I didn't really have time to type it up. The next update will be longer, I promise, but it might take a few days. I have midterms this week and a few papers due, so I will be busy.  
  
CHAPTER 4  
  
Dana stood frozen. She couldn't physically make her hand reach for the doorknob. Without looking, she knew that it was him on the other side of the door. As much as she wanted to see his face, she knew that he was the one man who could tear her family apart. He just didn't know it yet. The doorbell rang again, and she forced herself to reach for the handle. She took a deep breath and opened the door.  
  
There on her mother's front porch stood Fox Mulder. Everything she had felt up to now anticipating this moment could not compare to all the feelings that came rushing to the surface when she finally saw his face. There was the sheer happiness at finally seeing him after so long, the nervousness about what she would say, but most of all, there was the fear. The fear was all consuming. She was so afraid that he would find out her secret, that somehow, someone would know. But deep down, behind all the fear, there was a glimmer of hope that the truth would come out. It might be a good thing. It would at least be a giant weight off of her shoulders. But she couldn't do it yet. It wasn't the right time.  
  
But everything that Dana felt couldn't compare to what Mulder must be feeling. At least she had known ahead of time that he was coming. She had had time to get used to the idea of seeing him. He had been expecting Margaret Scully to open the door, not her daughter. She could read the surprise on his face. He looked lost and even kind of panicked.  
  
Neither said anything for several moments. Dana just stood there, taking the sight of him in. He looked different. Four years was a long time. His dark hair was longer and spiked up, which made him look younger. His clear blue eyes were still beautiful, but there was something there. Some shadow of sorrow or pain. The lines around his eyes and his mouth had deepened. Over the years, he had become even more built than before. There had always been a sort of strange, unexplainable power in his body, but now it was even more obvious. He just radiated raw energy. She could feel it coming from underneath his skin. It scared her, but it also made her wonder what had happened to him these past four years. She could tell a lot had changed. Even his clothing style had changed. Where before, he had worn dark suits to work and jeans and tee shirts when he was off, he now wore khakis and a light blue button down shirt. He had a pair of trendy dark sunglasses pushed up on his forehead. He looked good.  
  
All thought's drained from her mind when he spoke. "Scully." That one word carried so much emotion. She had longed to hear his voice for so long, and now he was here, standing right in front of her. She reached for the screen door and pushed it open.  
  
"Mulder. It's been so long." She finally choked the words out. "Please come in." She stepped aside, allowing him entry into the foyer. He stepped forward, still staring at her. Their eyes meet for one brief instant, but she quickly looked away. In that one moment of eye contact, so much passed between them she couldn't bear it for more than a second. It made her incredibly uncomfortable to see the pain in his eyes and she was sure that he could see right into her soul through her eyes. The truth was hiding in there, and she was positive that he would be able to read it, plain as day if he looked any longer.  
  
They stood in the foyer for several more moments before he finally broke the silence. "Scully, it's been too long." With those words he came forward slowly and gave her a tentative hug. But once his arms were around her, the hug grew in intensity. She hugged him back with all the emotion and feeling she had inside her. She felt whole again, for the first time in the last four years. The whole time they had been apart she had felt like a part of her had been missing. Now she knew what it had been.  
  
A/N-The next chapter will be Mulder meeting Emma and Danny, and the lunch, and Mulder and Scully's first long conversation. 


	5. The Start of a New World

CHAPTER 5  
  
When they let go of each other, Mulder grabbed her hands. "There's so much to say, Scully."  
  
"I know. How've you been?"  
  
"Oh, I'm alive, I guess." He smiled at her warmly. She hadn't seen that smile in so long, and it brought back so many memories. She smiled back at him.  
  
"You're probably hungry. My mom has lunch out on the back porch. Their conversation was rather frivolous and ignored the fact that they hadn't seen each other in four years. But an undercurrent of tension crackled in the air. There was much to be said, but it would have to wait. He didn't ask why she was here or how she was handling her husband's death. It wasn't that he didn't care. They just weren't sure how to talk to each other anymore.  
  
They walked through the living room to the dining room and out the sliding door onto the big back porch. The picnic table was set for three. The children had already eaten and were playing on the swings. Margaret was sitting at the table, watching them. She stood when her daughter and Mulder walked outside.  
  
"Fox, dear. Are you doing well? Are you getting settled alright?"  
  
"Yeah, We're all moved in."  
  
Dana flinched at the "we" part of his statement, but didn't say anything.  
  
Mulder hugged the older woman warmly and kissed her cheek. The three sat down at the redwood picnic table. Dana gazed down at her children playing. Mulder followed her gaze to the swing set. She looked over at him and realizes that he had never met her kids. She had a moment of doubt and worry, but called them over anyway.  
  
"Emma, Danny, come over here for a minute." The kids looked up at the sound of their mother's voice, and then came running over. Well, Danny hopped and Emma crawled.  
  
"Mulder, I believe you've met Miss Emma." She changed her tone of voice. "Emma, this is Mr. Mulder."  
  
"Hi there Mr. Mulder. I'm a doggie and my brother is a rabbit. Who are you?" The girl stood right in front of him with her hands on her hips.  
  
"I'm a friend of your mom's. We used to work together."  
  
"Mulder, this is my son Danny," Dana said, gesturing to the boy peeking out from behind her shoulder.  
  
"Hi sport. Well, aren't you all grown up? How old are you?" Mulder asked him good-naturedly.  
  
"This many," he said, holding up all ten fingers.  
  
"Really, I would've guessed you were at least 26. Oh well, guess I'm not a good guesser."  
  
Dana laughed and kissed Danny on the forehead. "You two can go play again." She sent him in the direction of the swingset with a pat on the back. He hopped off toward his sister who was already crawling in circles, pretending to be a good doggie.  
  
"Well, Scully, you're boy looks good for 10."  
  
"He's two and a half, actually."  
  
"I figured as much. You know, the last time I saw Emma, she was tiny. It's kind of strange seeing her all grown up. You've really got some great kids. They both look just like you." Mulder was watching them as they played on the swings, having given up the doggie-rabbit game.  
  
Dana knew that Mulder was lying to her. Danny may have looked like her, but Emma had a lot of her father in her. Her eyes, her nose, and her facial structure were all definitely not from Dana. All she had from her mother was her hair. Both her children had inherited her red hair. Danny's was a more strawberry blond, like his father's, but Emma's was dark auburn, and thick.  
  
The kids continued playing in the yard below while the adults sat on the porch, eating a lunch of chicken salad sandwiches and iced tea. The conversation centered around the weather and the state of foreign affairs and the latest movies. No one wanted to delve below the surface for fear of stirring up something that might make the situation any more uncomfortable. It was awkward because there was obviously something that each of them wanted to say.  
  
They sat in silence when the generic topics ran out. Finally Margaret came up with something to say. "Fox, how is Sierra?"  
  
Before he spoke, he looked at Dana. She looked confused. He cleared his throat. "I think the final hearing is going to be good. They gave me a trial period with her, and we have to be back for a follow up on Monday next week. If she passes with the shrink, and they say she's adjusting well, she's with me for the long haul. She's at a friends right now, till 5- ish." He glanced at his watch.  
  
Dana was insanely curious as to who this Sierra was, but she didn't have the courage to ask him now, afraid of what she would hear. Was she his daughter with another woman? Had he sued for custody?  
  
Margaret looked between the two young people sitting across from her and saw in their eyes the need to say a lot. And she knew it wouldn't be said with her and the kids here. She looked down at Emma and Danny. They were running in circles; lots of energy, as usual. It was a beautiful day, and they would probably love to go to the park. She stood up an gathered the dishes and carried them into the house. When she came back out five minutes later, she had Danny's stroller with her.  
  
"Dana, I'm going to take the kids to the park, okay dear? Danny, Emma, do you want to go to the park?" They immediately froze and looked at their mother.  
  
"Can we, Momma?" Emma asked, jumoing up and down.  
  
"Alright, but be careful and mind your gramma."  
  
"Grammy, Grammy, can I ride my bike?" Emma was hanging off her grandmother's arm, tugging on the edge of her shirt. Danny had already settled himself into his stroller.  
  
"Yes, Emma. Let's go get your bike out of the garage." She leaned over and buckled Danny into the stroller. She pushed it back into the house and toward the attached garage. She stuck her head back out the sliding door and said, "We'll be back in an hour or two. There's more tea in the fridge."  
  
With that, Dana and Mulder were alone.  
  
She looked at him. "Well, Mulder, I think it's time we talk. What'd you say?" 


	6. Her Story

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you have seen before. They are the property of Chris Carter and all that jazz. I do claim ownership to a few characters, though.  
  
CHAPTER 6  
  
"Scully, we have a lot to catch up on," Mulder said solemnly. She nodded. "So . . ." He trailed off. He seemed highly uncomfortable and unsure of what to say to her, of what to ask. "What have you been up to for the past four years?" he finally got out.  
  
"Well, a lot," Dana answered quietly.  
  
"How were things with Patrick?" With his question and the look in his eyes, she knew that he had an idea, that he had the impression that things hadn't been right. He had always been able to read her like a book, and she could see that he still claimed that gift.  
  
"Do you want it all? There's a lot to tell . . ."  
  
"Whatever you . . . ummm . . . feel comfortable telling me. Whatever you want to say." He looked at her expectantly.  
  
"Okay. After Emma was born, Patrick and I started to grow apart. He started drinking on the weekends and he barely acknowledged me. Then he started missing work, so I had to go back even before my maternity leave was up because he got fired. My mom spent more time with Emma that first year than either Patrick or I did. That killed me. I wanted to be there for my daughter, but I wasn't able to because of him. He took that first year from me. I began to really resent him for that. I think that's when things started to change. We had a big fight, the biggest one of our marriage at that point. I told him that I blamed him for the fact that I missed her first steps, her first words. Do you know that her first word was Grammy? Not mommy. I cried for two days solid when my mother told me that. Well, I told him I blamed him and that I wanted a divorce so that I could raise my child as I saw fit. I would have moved in with my mom or with Charlie or Bill or something so I could work less, have less bills to pay, more time with her. When I said that I would take her away from him, he broke down, said he wanted to change, he wanted us to be a family. He said that he didn't want to be a lousy father or husband anymore. He wanted to be there for us. So I gave him a second chance. He joined AA and then things . . . well, I was going to say they got back to normal, but I don't think anything about my relationship with Patrick was normal. If anything, the norm for us was the drinking, the lies, the cheating. But we appeared to be getting closer to what a family should be, at least on the surface. He got a new job, and he became really attentive to Emma and me. He was a model father and husband. Ha . . . what a load of bullshit."  
  
She laughed cynically and stood up from the table. She started pacing before she opened up again.  
  
"I got pregnant with Danny after Patrick had been sober for seven months. The whole time I was pregnant, he was really sweet to me. After Danny was born, he started working longer hours. He said it was so we would have enough money so that I wouldn't have to back to work for a long time, so that I wouldn't miss Danny's infancy like I'd missed Emma's. Then he started becoming obsessively protective of Danny. And he was less and less attentive to Emma with each business trip he went on. He would bring Danny home all kinds of gifts from the places he went, but nothing for Emma. When he was home, he would just sit and hold Danny for hours at a time and just stare at him. When he was asleep in his crib, Patrick would watch him. But he didn't give Emma the time of day. It was a really hard time in our relationship because I had to deal with Emma's disappointment every time he left and didn't kiss her goodbye. The while time he was gone, she would cry. And then when he got home, he didn't even acknowledge her. It destroyed her. She just didn't understand. Frankly, I didn't either. I would ask him, but he wouldn't talk to me. He just wanted to be with his son. He stopped sleeping in our bed when he was home. He slept on the floor of the nursery."  
  
She took a deep, shaking breath.  
  
"Then the business trips became more frequent. He was home less and less. When he was home, he would take Danny out for day trips. By that time he was a year old. I never saw Patrick. Emma began to get over his mistreatment of her. She just put up a hard shell. She pretended everything was okay. I would hear her at night, talking to her "Daddy." In his absence, she . . ."  
  
Dana started crying.  
  
"She made up a father figure for herself, because the man who was supposed to be her fucking father wasn't there for her."  
  
She dropped down onto the porch swing and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Mulder walked over to the swing and sat down next to her, putting a hand on her back. She took a deep breath and steeled her resolve.  
  
"One day while he was out of town, I got a call from his office. They said that when he had cleaned out his office, he had missed a picture frame. I guess it fell behind a filling cabinet or something. Well, I went in there, confused as too why Patrick had cleaned out his office. The guy who had taken over his office handed this frame to me and said that Patrick had left it when he quit. I didn't want to ask when he had quit or any questions or anything because, well, as his wife, I should have known this stuff. So I just say thank you and walk out. When I got to my car, I looked at the picture. I expected it to be this picture of him, Emma, and me right after her first birthday, because that's what had been in there when I gave him the frame. But it wasn't. It was him and some young blonde. And she was . . ."  
  
She broke down again.  
  
"She was holding my son. That broke everything I had left inside of me. I instantly knew where he had been all this time. With her. He only came home to see his son. And then he took him to her. I couldn't believe it. My anger just got worse and worse until he came home a week later. I flipped. I took my kids to my moms, and then I just screamed at him for hours. He didn't deny anything. I hated him so much at that point. But he didn't seem worried. He basically blackmailed me into staying with him. He knew that if I divorced him, I would get full custody of Danny with his past and the alcohol and everything. So he threatened me with some information that I had no idea he knew. I had to stay with him, or I would lose both kids. So from then on, he basically flaunted his affairs, and he didn't try to hide the drinking. He was using drugs too. For the next year, I was basically a single parent. I didn't let the kids think anything was wrong. They just thought he was on business a lot. But again, my kids saw my mom more than they saw me. I came to hate him more than I ever had before. A week before he died, I asked him for a divorce. I couldn't take it anymore. I hated him too much. But he refused. He didn't want to lose Danny. I don't really understand that. He didn't love his son enough to stay home and try to be a good father, but he somehow loved him too much to give him up and let the child have a good, normal life. But then he died."  
  
She said that last part so matter of factly, so emotionlessly, it worried him.  
  
"How did he die?" Mulder asked.  
  
"Fire. He was with the blonde. Jessica something. Her sister came to tell me the next day. I never told anyone the truth about our marriage. Well, except my mother, and now you. Everyone else got the story that he was doing this woman's taxes when the house burst into flames. I truly liked his family. They were really nice people. I didn't think they should have to know how awful he really was. Now that I think about it though, they will have to know eventually. I guess I plan to tell the kids someday. When they're old enough to understand. I think it would be their right to know. I hope they don't hate me too much."  
  
She stopped there.  
  
"I can't believe I just rambled on for twenty five minutes. Thank you for listening. It felt so good to finally get the whole entire story out."  
  
She wiped her eyes and he reached over and pulled her into his arms. A fresh wave of tears started and she buried her face in his shoulder. He rocked her against his body until the sobbing subsided. His shirt was wet by the time she pulled away. She looked up into his eyes and this time didn't look away. Something passed between them while their eyes were locked - a silent conversation that communicated more than hours of talking could have. Then Mulder broke the silence.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Scully. You never deserved such a bastard. You should be with someone who treats you well, who loves you and will never leave you." He sounded said as he said it.  
  
"But Mulder, I could never regret my time with Patrick. As much as I hate him, I wouldn't trade my children for the world. The only thing I regret was not getting out earlier. Maybe if I had, I wouldn't be so screwed up now."  
  
"Did he ever hit you?"  
  
"When he was home, he was abusive - mainly emotionally, but sometimes he turned to violence. But I'm stronger for it. He was weak from his addictions. He never hit me hard enough to make me run. I couldn't leave him. I couldn't lose my kids, not to him. God only knows how he would have treated Emma. But if he had laid even one finger on either of my children, I would have been out of there so fast."  
  
She shuddered at the thought.  
  
"Scully, you shouldn't have put up with it."  
  
"You don't know. I would have lost my children. Hell, he might not have taken Emma. But I sure as hell would have lost Danny. And Emma, I don't even know what would have happened to her. I love them too much. I put up with his shit for them. They're my reason for living."  
  
She was crying again, and he reached out for her.  
  
"You're right, I'll never know. That is unless you tell me. Do you want to talk about what he knew?"  
  
"I can't." Her voice was muffled by his shoulder.  
  
"Alright Scully. You don't have to say anything you don't want to."  
  
They sat like that for several moments. Then it was Scully's turn to ask the questions.  
  
"Mulder, I want to know about you."  
(A/N) Next time: Mulder's story. Hopefully it won't take too long. I am quite busy with classes and all kinds of other stuff that uses up my free time. The next chapter's already written, I just need to type it. I am also working on a Harry Potter story, so check that out. I don't know what it will be called. 


	7. His Story

CHAPTER 7  
  
"Ok . . . where to start, where to start?" Mulder was staring at the grass, with a faraway look in his eyes.  
  
"At the beginning. I heard you were in Chicago. How did you get there?" Dana asked.  
  
"Well, I kept working on the X-Files for about a year after you left. They gave me a new partner, but it just wasn't the same. She refused to believe in anything we saw. Her reports were what closed down the X-Files. They transferred me to a Detroit field office. I spent several months there, profiling drug dealers, murderers, rapists, and then there was the whole terrorist scare. It wasn't what I wanted to do, but I knew I had to bide my time. I just kept hoping that something would happen, and the X-Files would be reopened. Then I got the big break I had been hoping for. My boss got a call from the Chicago office. They had found an abandoned warehouse that they had thought was part of a drug trafficking ring. Boy, were they surprised. That warehouse had a lot more than drugs. It was the site of one of the hybridization experiments, but the whole thing had gone wrong. The hybrids had started dying. Some mutant virus had swept through the place. Luckily the Chicago boys had had enough sense to bio-contain the place. We still aren't sure if the virus was a hazard to humans, but we suspect it might have been. Anyways, it was basically gone by the time we got in there. So this place is a mess. They just completely pulled out of the project and left everything. The dead hybrids were still there and there were files everywhere. We think they took all vital files and just ran. So we took the rest of the files and took pictures of everything. It's a good thing we did too, because the place burned to the ground that night. The files that were left were just lists of names of people associated with the project. Whole pages were blacked out. So we went after the people who weren't. Many of them were dead before we got there. Some had had 'accidents,' others had died of an unexplained illness. We think that was from the alien virus, but we can't be sure. A bunch of the men from the top of the list had just disappeared. No sign of them ever having been at the addresses on the list. We never found any of them. We think they were the higher ups who ran to save their own asses. There were only about 15 to 20 names left to investigate after all that. One of the names I got was Spencer Case. So I go to this ritzy apartment building in one of the richest neighborhoods in Chicago. A woman answers the door. She's pretty - long, dark hair, really blue eyes, tall. I introduce myself as Special Agent Fox Mulder of the FBI, and she faints dead away. When she came too, she was petrified of me. She kept asking me who I was, so I showed her all the ID I had. She started crying then. I asked her what was wrong. She said that she had had a brother named Fox Mulder. Her name was Samantha Case. Samantha, Scully. She was my sister."  
  
"Oh my God, Mulder. What . . . how?"  
  
"She said that she had been born Samantha Mulder. When she was five, she moved in with her uncle, a man by the name of Robert Stark, supposedly. Stark told her that her entire family had died in a car accident. She remembered me from when we were little. They didn't try to keep information about the family from here. They told her all about me and our parents. I'm not really sure why, but they even showed here pictures. And wait, Scully, before you say anything about what I wanted to believe and everything, I had tests run, and she was a hundred percent human, and she was my sister. We spent several hours together that day, just talking about everything there was to talk about. Her husband Spencer, he had been working on the project. He showed up dead later that week, shot in the back of the head. The authorities called it a mugging, but I knew. Sam just accepted that explanation. She was so trusting. She accepted some story he had told her about what he did for a living. Shortly after Spencer's death, I was pulled from the case. We all were. Some explanation came out of nowhere for what we had seen in that warehouse, for what the pictures showed. Convenient, huh?"  
  
She nodded knowingly.  
  
"So I put in a request to be moved to the Chicago office. I got an apartment and Sam and her daughter moved in with me. I figured, oh, I don't know, that I would be able to protect them better if they were with me. The three of us got to be really close, really fast. Her daughter, Sierra, was ten when they moved in with me, so I tried to give them a normal life. There was no trace of the Consortium or the conspiracy in our lives. Then Sam got sick. I had finally found my sister, and I lost her again after a year. She died on the one year anniversary of her husband's death. It was cancer."  
  
He paused and took a deep breath. His eyes got misty.  
  
"She had left everything to me in her will. Including her daughter. So it was just the two of us for a bout a month, when, out of nowhere, my claim to guardianship was contested. It was Spencer's brother, Kenneth Case. Because he was married, the court gave him custody right off the bat. Then his wife left him. And all this stuff came out about his connections to the Consortium. But you know that doesn't hold up in the courts. So, legally, we were on an even ground. I appealed. My lawyer used the fact that Sie had lived with me for a year before her mother's death, and Ken hadn't even shown up on her life until now. So they hit back with some interesting little facts from my past. They brought in all this stuff from the X-Files, tried to make me look crazy. Your notes in the case files really helped. Thanks. You made me look less like Spooky Mulder."  
  
He looked right into her eyes then, and she felt his gratitude.  
  
"Skinner even came down to testify on my behalf. My lawyer wanted to bring you out there, but I wouldn't let them bring you into it. The trial went on, back and forth like that for six months. Sierra got to stay with me the whole time, because I lived in her school district, and the judge ruled that it would be better for her that way. In the end, the ruling was that Sierra would get to stay with me for a six month trial period, and if a psychologist says that she is well-adjusted and doing good at the end of it, she gets to stay with me. Then I got a call from Skinner. They're reopening the X-Files. I knew that with Sierra with me now, I couldn't just be taking off and running halfway across the country to investigate aliens and monsters and conspiracies. And I told him that. We worked something out that satisfied both of us, so I went to the judge and asked if I could move Sierra to DC. The only way it could happen would be if she was completely ok with it. She had a meeting with a child psychologist and they decided that she would actually be better off there. She said that Chicago reminded her too much of her parents and that she was depressed there. So here I am. Sierra is pretty well settled in at school, and I am just happy to have her with me. She reminds me so much of Sam. I think that this is my second chance. I only got a year with my sister, but now I get a lifetime with her daughter. It's kind of weird though, I went from having no kids at all to having a 12 year old girl. I'm afraid I won't be able to give her everything she needs."  
  
"Oh, Mulder, you'll be good for her. I know she's much better off with you than with some guy she doesn't know who has ties to that cigarette smoking bastard."  
  
"Thank you Scully. Knowing you have faith in me means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me. I've missed you."  
  
"I've missed you too. I wish . . . I wish things could have been different."  
  
"I know. Me too. I could have used your support during the trial."  
  
"You know, Mulder, I would have been there in a heartbeat if I had known you needed me. And I would have loved to have someone by my side the times I was alone. When Patrick was in trouble."  
  
"You were my best friend, Scully. I don't know how I let you slip away."  
  
Neither of them said anything after that. They each had their own reasons for letting the other out of their life, and neither wanted to think about that.  
  
"Mulder, you said you worked something out with Skinner. What's the deal?"  
  
"I am going to be a kind of consultant for the X-Files. I'm going to help them find and train new agents and consult with them on cases. I'm also going to be teaching profiling at Quantico. I'm surprised you haven't heard anything there. Some people are a little upset about me coming on. My reputation still speaks for itself."  
  
"Oh, I took a leave at Quantico after Patrick died. I've been off since. I'm not sure when I'm going back. Hell, I'm not sure if I am going back. I need to get my kids settled, find a new house, and then see where I am. That's more important. I think my kids need their mother more than I need to be working at this point in time."  
  
"Scully, can we talk about . . ." He trailed off.  
  
"What Mulder?"  
  
"Well, that one night. We never talked about it. I just . . . I don't know what I am trying to say." Dana couldn't believe that he had brought it up. She had known that it would come up, that they would have to talk about it, but now?  
  
"Mulder, I don't know what to say." When she said those words, she knew that she would have to tell him. And if she didn't do it now, she never would. "There's something I need to tell you, but I don't know how." He was staring at her now. She knew he was trying to figure out what she was hiding. Before either of them could say anything, however, the sliding door slid open. Neither turned to look. They were to busy staring into each other's eyes. Then Emma came running over and threw herself into her mother's lap.  
  
The connection was broken.  
  
A/N: Sorry again about it taking so long. The next part is written, I just need to type it up, but the semester is coming to a close, and I have a lot of work due very soon. I'll try to be prompt. Thanks for reading. PLEASE review!!! 


	8. Night

CHAPTER 8  
  
"Momma, we played at the park, and I did the moneky bars all the way across for the first time. Gramma helped me though. Danny couldn't do them. He's too little." Emma was bouncing up and down on her mother's lap.  
  
"That's great honey. I'm so proud of you. Did you have fun?" Dana sounded somewhat distracted.  
  
"Yes, momma. I like the park here more than the one by our house. It's way, way more fun."  
  
"Ok, sweetie. You want to go play with Danny? Momma's trying to talk to her friend here."  
  
"Okey dokey Momma." She kissed the little girl on the head, and Emma jumped down and ran into the house.  
  
"Mulder, I . . ."  
  
"Scully, I have to go," he interrupted. "I have to pick up Sierra."  
  
"Is it that late already?" Dana said looking at her watch.  
  
"Yeah. If I'm not there, she'll be worried."  
  
"Of course."  
  
Margaret and Emma walked out the sliding glass door just as the two were standing up.  
  
"Fox, are you leaving?" Margaret asked.  
  
"Yeah, I need to go get Sierra. Thank you for having me for lunch."  
  
"Well, thank you for coming dear. Just know that you and Sierra are always welcome here. I would really like to meet her."  
  
"I'll bring her by some time." He hugged the older woman.  
  
"I'm going to walk him out," Dana said.  
  
They walked to the foyer. Neither spoke for a few moments.  
  
"Mulder, there's really something I need to talk to you about. When can we . . ."  
  
"Soon, Scully. Do you have a cell phone? I'll give you a call."  
  
"It's 555-0174."  
  
"I'll call, I promise. I just got you back, I'm not going to lose you again."  
  
She started crying when he said that.  
  
"I've missed you so much, Mulder."  
  
He stepped toward her and pulled her into his arms. She let herself forget everything that was worrying her and just feel the warmth of his arms, the cool smoothness of his cotton shirt against her cheek, the reassuring pressure of his chin resting on the top of her head. It all felt so right.  
  
But then he pulled away.  
  
"I really have to go. Good bye Scully."  
  
He walked out the front door and she was left feeling cold and alone. She watched his car back down the driveway and drive out of sight. When she couldn't see it anymore, she shut the heavy wood door and leaned against it, wrapping her arms around her body. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
That evening, Dana was tucking her kids in. Danny surprised her by not asking about his father. Instead, he asked a question out of the blue.  
  
"Mommy, are Emma and me going to get a new Daddy ever?"  
  
"Sweetheart, I don't know. Why are you thinking about that?"  
  
"Emma said."  
  
"Oh darling, I don't know what's going to happen. Don't worry about it, dear. Go to sleep."  
  
She kissed him on the forehead and turned the lamp next to his bed off.  
  
In Emma's room, things started as usual. She said her prayers, asking God to look after her family and her baby in heaven. Then, just before she said amen, she asked God to send her a new daddy.  
  
"Emma, honey, where did you get this idea about a new daddy? Did you tell Danny something?"  
  
"Momma, Macy Reiner get a new daddy when her daddy moved away, and now she has two daddies. And this boy at the park today, he got a new daddy when his daddy died. So why shouldn't we get a new daddy. Macy gets two daddies. I only want one."  
  
She started crying. Dana leaned down and hugged her.  
  
"Honey, don't cry. I don't know if you'll get a new daddy. I just don't know. But we're going to be okay."  
  
She smoothed her daughter's hair back from her forehead.  
  
"Go to sleep darling. Don't worry about it."  
  
Dana kissed her on the cheek and pulled the blanket up over her shoulders.  
  
"Sleep tight, Em."  
  
"I love you Momma," Emma said sniffling.  
  
"Love you too, baby."  
  
Dana walked out of the room and slowly closed the door. She was walking down the stairs when she heard her cell phone ringing from the bedroom.  
  
"Hello," she answered.  
  
"Scully, it's Mulder." Her breath caught in her throat at the sound of his voice. She hadn't heard it on the phone for so long.  
  
"Mulder," was all she could get out.  
  
"We need to talk."  
  
"When?"  
  
"What are you doing now? You could come over here. We could talk. There's still things that need to be said."  
  
"I'm not doing anything. I just put the kids to bed. Just give me directions."  
  
She wrote down the directions and promised to be there in twenty minutes. She pushed the end call button and just stood there, holding the phone. Then she grabbed her purse off the nightstand and walked down the stairs.  
  
"Where are you going, Dana?" Margaret asked from the den.  
  
"To Mulder's. I'm not sure when I'll be back. The kids are already in bed. I'll check in on them when I get back."  
  
"Ok, be careful dear. I love you."  
  
"Bye mother." 


	9. What Really Happened

CHAPTER 9  
  
Dana pulled her sedan up into the driveway at the address Mulder had given her. She looked up at a house that she never would have imagined Mulder living in. It was a large brick home in a new subdivision. The front door was open and a light was burning in the foyer. That was the only light that Dana could see. She stepped out of her car and walked slowly up to the porch. She raised her hand to knock on the door and paused. She took a deep breath and knocked.  
  
"I'll get it," a voice came from somewhere within the house, followed by the sound of running feet. A young girl came skipping down the stairs. She was definitely a Mulder. Tall with long dark hair pulled back from her face in a pony tail, she was wearing gray sweats and a purple tank top with little glittery silver stars all over it. She had her uncle's strong nose and jaw line. She really was a beautiful girl. She turned to the door and smiled.  
  
"Hi, can I help you?"  
  
"Umm. . ." Dana said nervously. "I'm here to see your uncle. I think he's expecting me."  
  
The girl looked at the top of the stairs where Mulder had appeared. He nodded. "It's alright Sie. This is Dana Scully. We used to work together."  
  
"Oh, did you work on the X-Files with Uncle Fox?"  
  
"Yeah," Dana answered, feeling more at ease with the girl already.  
  
"Well, I'm Sierra Case. Maybe I'll see you around sometime. You seem cool. Well, I gotta go finish some homework now. Night Uncle Fox." Sierra bounded up the stairs and kissed her uncle on the cheek before heading into the hallway.  
  
"Scully . . ." Mulder began. "I think we should talk somewhere . . . private. My study is back here."  
  
He led her past the big wooden staircase, through a hallway that went past the new kitchen and then the formal dining room. At the end of the hall, a door stood partly open. He pushed it the rest of the way open and stood aside for her. She walked into the room and immediately laughed softly. It was definitely Mulder's study. His "I Want to Believe" poster was tacked up behind the messy, disorganized desk. Papers and files littered every available surface, including the beat up old sofa that she recognized from his apartment back in his bachelor days. He shoved some of the files onto the floor to make room for her on the couch, and then plopped down next to her, crossing his legs at the ankles. She smiled.  
  
"Glad to see you've still got a touch of your old decorating style, Mulder. The rest of the house doesn't really say 'Trust no one,' now does it?"  
  
"That all came with the house. Wouldn't want Sierra to think her uncle's crazy, would I? She still doesn't know about the whole 'Spooky Mulder' business. I think I should try to keep it that way, wouldn't you say?" Dana nodded, smirking.  
  
"Well, Mulder. I think we have some things to talk about. You said it yourself; there are still things that need to be said."  
  
"Yes. . ." he trailed off, then continued again. "I think we should talk about that night. Neither of us has ever said anything about it since it happened. I mean, you were still with Patrick and all . . ."  
  
"Hell Mulder, it was a week before the wedding. Yeah I was still with Patrick. But I wouldn't change anything. I mean . . ."  
  
"I know what you mean. Even though it was just one night. You really don't regret it?"  
  
"No. how could I?" She laughed bitterly. "If only I had seen then what an ass Patrick was, if only I had listened to you. Stayed with you. You know, I still remember everything about that night. Everything."  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
FIVE YEARS EARLIER  
  
Scully was having another heated argument with Patrick about their lies after the wedding. This time it was about her working. He wanted her to stay at home and play the happy little homemaker. It was the farthest thing from what she wanted. She wanted to at least work up until she got pregnant, and then take some time off to be with her kids, and then go back to part time. He wanted her to quit right after the wedding and start tending house right away. He especially didn't want her working the X- Files. Said it was too dangerous. She knew why he was really so angry. He had been upset since she had said that she wanted Mulder to walk her down the aisle. He hadn't even wanted him there. Patrick had been jealous of Mulder from the start. She and Mulder were close, too close in Patrick's mind, and it unnerved him.  
  
After their big blow up, she left the apartment and drove. She started out just driving to blow off some steam, until she found herself in front of Mulder's building. She turned off the car and sat there for a few minutes, unsure of what to do. She knew that he would welcome her up, commiserate with her about Patrick, and let her just vent, like she needed to. But she didn't want to keep turning to him. She couldn't come to depend on him more than she already did, because she was getting married. She needed to be able to fend for herself, make her own decisions, and handle things on her own, without him. He had been her rock for too long. She leaned her head on the steering wheel, her eyes blurring. She was suddenly exhausted.  
  
She opened the car door, her mind made up, though it was sheer practicality that made her do it. She couldn't drive back across the city like this. She was libel to kill herself or someone else. The evening had been emotionally draining, and after a physically tiring day at work, she was dead. She walked to the door of the building and rang the buzzer next to 'Mulder, F.' She glanced at her watch. Surely he would forgive her for buzzing at two a.m. He probably wasn't even asleep yet. Sure enough, a gruff, tired, but definitely awake voice garbled through the speaker. "Who's there?"  
  
"It's me."  
  
The door unlocked with a soft clicking and she went in. She walked up to Mulder's door, where she found him leaning on the door frame, his jaw stubbly with a five o'clock shadow and his hair mussed as if he had been absently running his fingers through it. He wore gray sweats and a dark blue tee-shirt that made his eyes look eerily bright.  
  
"Hey," was all he said.  
  
"Can I crash here tonight?" Scully asked, sounding oddly unlike herself. She had decided in the stairwell to do something rash for once in her life. She was going to leave Patrick waiting and worrying. She wasn't going to come home till morning. Then he would bombard her with a million questions about where she had been and she would be decisively vague. It would serve him right; give him something to be jealous about.  
  
"Sure. Need to talk?" He stepped aside and let her walk through the door before closing it.  
  
"We had a fight. Another one," she answered before he could give her that questioning look he was so good at.  
  
"What about this time?"  
  
"Work. Well, the fact that he doesn't want me to."  
  
"What? He can't do that to you, you know. You can't just stop working Scully. What would you do?" He sounded horror struck at the idea. She wasn't sure what was worse for him: the idea of losing her, or the idea of sitting around all day with nothing to do, no cases to investigate.  
  
"I don't know - clean his house?" she said bitterly. "The man's gotta eat too."  
  
"Scully, you have sacrificed too much to go and play house now."  
  
"I know Mulder. What the hell do you think I'm doing here? I argued with him. Jeez, the way you're talking, you'd think I agreed with him. We got into a yelling match, and then I left. And I don't want to go back there tonight. I can't. I'm too drained to deal with the drive, let alone to deal with him. So can I sleep on your couch?"  
  
"Sure thing Scully. You know you're always welcome here."  
  
"What am I doing Mulder?" Scully asked suddenly.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I'm sleeping at another man's place a week before my wedding to a man who's already jealous of you in the first place."  
  
"You just needed to blow off some steam, and now you are just going to sleep it off."  
  
"Oh, come on Mulder. Let's be honest here. I knew what I was doing when I came up here. I knew this would piss him off more than anything. I am making a conscious effort to do something rebellious. To do something to show Patrick that I am not his possession. And you know what? I don't feel bad about it. In fact, it feels damn good." Scully smiled triumphantly.  
  
Then her smile faded. She blinked a few times. "Am I a bad person Mulder? I am consciously goading my fiancé to do something rash. It's like I want him to blow up at me. Like I want this marriage to fail. Am I doing the right thing?"  
  
"In what?"  
  
"Marrying him."  
  
"Scully, you know how I feel about this whole thing. I am going to be happy for you if you're happy, but I don't think he's right for you. He's too controlling. I don't think you'll be happy in the long run, and all that matters to me in this IS your happiness, so I guess that explains it. In fact, I don't even think you're happy now. Screw what happens in the long run." He looked in her eyes. "Scully, don't lie to me now. Are you happy? Now? Are you happy with Patrick now, with the idea of marrying him? Answer me Scully." 


	10. Lies and Truths

CHAPTER 10  
  
STILL FIVE YEARS EARLIER  
  
"I don't know if I'm happy Mulder. All I know is that I can't do this anymore. I can't chase aliens and monsters all over the country anymore. I can't chase this illusive truth that's not really there. I want a family. I need to move on with my life. I need a real life." She looked away from him as she whispered that last part.  
  
"You think a life with him is going to be a real life? Just wait. You aren't going to be happy in your marriage. This isn't what you want Scully. This isn't what you need." He paused and looked at her. "Hell, I would rather go on chasing the truth for as long as I live than settle. That's what you're doing, you know. You're settling. And for what? So that you can keep on your little schedule? You think it's about time to settle down, so you're settling for the first guy who's asked you. You don't care that he isn't right for you. You'd marry someone who you know isn't right rather than wait for the real thing. You're sacrificing your happiness, the promise of what could be. But you know what? I'm not going to argue with you anymore about this. You're going to do whatever you want, so just do it. But don't be surprised."  
  
Scully's eyes were glassed over with tears and she turned from him. "You don't know what I want," she whispered. He grabbed her arm and pulled her around. She stumbled into his chest and their eyes met for one brief moment before she looked away. He put one hand on her chin and turned her face up to his and kissed her, just for one brief moment.  
  
"I think I do know what you want Scully. It's the same thing I've wanted for the last eight years. Don't go Scully."  
  
"Don't make me."  
  
FIVE YEARS LATER  
  
"I should have stayed," Dana said ruefully, shaking her head.  
  
"But I thought you said that you wouldn't trade your children for anything." Mulder was looking closely at her. Too closely.  
  
"I wouldn't. But Mulder, there's something you should know. I don't really know how to tell you this, but I have to. You have rights, rights that I've taken from you. Look, I. . ." She broke down and started crying. "I should have sad this a long time ago. I don't really know why I didn't. Well, I know a few reasons, but they didn't exist in the beginning. That day you brought the locket, I should have told you then. But I didn't. I should have told you before then even, but. . ."  
  
"Scully, what are you talking about?"  
  
"Don't call me that."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Scully. I'm not 'Scully' anymore. I'm Dana now. I'm not the same woman I was back then. I wish I was, but what good is wishing in a world where prayers aren't even answered."  
  
"Scully," Mulder said, ignoring the look she shot him. "I haven't known you to abandon your faith like this. Why now?"  
  
She laughed cynically. "Mulder, you don't know the hell that I've been through. Wait, you probably do. That's why I can't tell you this. You're the only person who has ever understood me. You're the only person who has ever sacrificed like I have. And this is how I repay you. I don't deserve to have you looking at me like that. All trust and understanding. Not when I've done what I've done."  
  
"Stop playing games Scully. What are you talking about? What have you done?"  
  
"Stop calling me that."  
  
"I'll call you whatever the hell I want, Scully."  
  
"God! You . . . I . . . Emma's yours," Scully finally blurted out.  
  
"What?" Mulder visibly recoiled from his position leaning towards Dana.  
  
"See. I never should have come here. You welcome me into your home, introduce me to your niece, and I tell you how I've betrayed you for the past five years. I'm sorry. I know I should have told you. But you know what they say. Hindsight's 20-20."  
  
He just sat there, shaking his head. "I have a daughter."  
  
"She looks like you." He couldn't bring himself to look at her.  
  
"Can you leave? I . . . I don't know what to do right now. I just need to be alone."  
  
"Alright Mulder. But will you ever forgive me?"  
  
"I don't know." She stood to leave. "Before you go, do you have a picture of her?" She pulled a snapshot out of her purse, the one that had sat on her bedside table for the past year. It was of the little girl smiling, playing in the sun at the beach. Her father's looks were so strong in that picture, it pained Dana to part with it. But she handed it to him. "Thank you Dana." Mulder didn't stand as she walked out of the room. He just stared at the picture.  
  
Dana walked to her car and shut the door. Once she was behind the wheel, the tears flowed freely. She crossed her arms over the top of the steering wheel and rested her forehead on top of them, letting the sobs shake her shoulders before she started the engine. 


	11. Last Chances

CHAPTER 11  
  
Dana loaded her children and the last of their suitcases into the SUV. It had been a week since she had told Mulder. She still hadn't heard from him. But she was done leaning on her mother for support. She was taking her kids home where she was going to get started looking for a new job in a new place. Hopefully something in a quiet suburb that would give her the chance to to be with Emma and Danny. She gave her mother a hug, loaded the last suitcase and told the kids to wave to Gramma as they drove away.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
That night, after Emma and Danny were asleep, Dana called Mulder again. This was the last time though. She had called him every day at his office and every night at home, but he wasn't answering either. She had gone by his house once, and it had been completely empty-no car, no lights on. It was the same with his office. It was as if he had dropped off the face of the earth.  
  
As she dialed the phone, she knew that if he didn't answer, it was over. She couldn't do this anymore. She held her breath as she pressed the last number. After four rings, she let the breath out. After ten, she sighed and started to hang up. She stopped before she had ended the connection and started counting the rings again. She lost track before the operator told her to hang up and dial again. With a shaking hand, she put the receiver down and ended whatever she and Mulder had had or would ever have the chance of having. He would never know his daughter and Emma would never know her real father. Dana cried for her daughter, but she was really sad for him.  
  
A/N: Ok, I know that was uber-short, but I am rather busy. The next chapter will be really long. It's all written, but I have to type it up. I just got a new job, so I am kind of busy with that, but I will try to get it up within the week. I wanted to get this up because it is kind of separate from the next chapter. Something important WILL happen in the next chap. I promise. Hopefully this will tide you over though. 


	12. The Escape

CHAPTER 12  
  
The next day, Dana drove her SUV to the airport. She was due to leave for San Diego that afternoon. There was a high school for kids interested in a serious career in science that was looking for a forensics and pathology teacher. Charlie and his wife Denise lived in town, so they would be able to help out with Emma and Danny before school started. Their son was Danny's age, and Denise had already said that she would love to have Danny during the day, and Emma would be starting kindergarten. Since the high school had holidays and summer off, she would have plenty of time with her kids.  
  
For the time being, she would be spending a week and a half with her brother and his family, basically to get away from it all.  
  
At the airport, Dana checked their bags with the skycap, and then went to park in the long-term parking lot. She put Danny in his stroller and went to the ticket counter to check in. Emma was jumping up and down excitedly, trying to see over the counter. Everything about flying excited her. She pulled on Dana's arm for about the fourth or fifth time while she was taking to the clerk, trying to find out what gate they needed to go to.  
  
"Emilie Samantha Malone, please. Mommy is trying to get this all sorted out. If you do not calm down, we will not be going to see Uncle Charlie."  
  
Emma's lip started trembling at her mother's harsh tone. "I'm sorry Momma."  
  
Dana sighed. "It's okay baby." She smiled at the clerk and leaned down to pick up her daughter. Emma put her head down on her mother's shoulder. She knew she shouldn't have snapped at the little girl. She was just so stressed out these days.  
  
She got all their paperwork straightened out and set Emma down, pushing Danny's stroller toward Gate D-10.  
  
"Momma, can we get hotdogs?" Emma asked. She had obviously gotten over the earlier incident at the ticket counter. Dana looked at her watch. They still had an hour and a half before their flight began boarding, but they still had to get through airport security, which was still tight after September 11.  
  
"We'll see hon. We still have to go through the metal detectors. Let's get in line." She guided the stroller in place behind a man and a woman in business suits. They were arguing about a meeting they were flying to Seattle for. Then their talk turned more toward flirting and innuendos. Dana could tell they were sleeping together, or at least thinking about it.  
  
She tuned them out and focused on her children instead. Danny had fallen asleep in his stroller. He was clutching his security blanket and sucking his thumb. She smiled at her beautiful boy. He was so oblivious to his mother's troubles.  
  
Emma, on the other had, could sense that something was wrong. She had grown rather quiet. She was sitting on the floor with drooping eyelids.  
  
"Come here sweetheart," Dana said to her daughter. Emma picked her backpack up off the ground and dragged it over to her mother. "Put your book bag on." Emma sighed and put her little arms through the straps. Then Dana leaned down and picked her up. The line shuffled along for another 15 minutes before the family got to the metal detectors.  
  
"Sweetheart, put your bag on the conveyor belt. Emma dropped it on the belt. It went through with Dana's laptop case and Danny's toy bag. After getting through security, they stopped in at a deli for hotdogs. She woke her son up and gave him some French fries. She knew they would get food on the plane so she didn't want them to eat a lot.  
  
They were sitting at one of the tables when a woman walked in. She walked up to the counter and ordered a double skinny latte with no foam. She seemed to have a way that she carried herself that just drew attention to her. She was dressed in a black pinstripe suit with a short skirt and heels. She was even wearing the panty hose with the little seam up the back. 'Some people,' Dana thought to herself, then turned back to entertaining Danny. The woman tuned to look at a rack of snack food on the counter. Dana looked up at her again and saw an FBI badge pinned to her jacket. The woman picked up a bag of sunflower seeds and Dana's heart sank. She knew that brand of seeds. She had purchased them herself many times.  
  
She knew she shouldn't do it, shouldn't mess with fate, but she had to know. "Stay here guys," she said to her kids who were now sword fighting with their French fries. She pasted a smile on her face and approached the woman.  
  
"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but notice your badge. I used to work at the Bureau."  
  
"Oh, hello. I'm Kassie Magellan. Well, Special Agent Kassie Magellan." The woman had a frosty tone.  
  
"What department do you work in?" The moment of truth. Now that the words had come out of her mouth, Dana regretted saying them. She didn't really even want to know.  
  
"You probably wouldn't know it. It's just reopening."  
  
"Try me," Dana said, smirking, "I taught at Quantico up until a few months ago, so I might surprise you."  
  
"Oh, you taught at Quantico? What did you teach?"  
  
"Forensic science and pathology."  
  
"I don't think I ever took anything like that."  
  
"So what department are you in?" Dana knew she sounded rude, but if she was going to know, she had to know now.  
  
"The X-Files," Kassie said slowly. "We investigate paranormal activity. I know it sounds unusual, but there's a lot of stuff out there that can't really be explained, but it still needs to be investigated. I'll understand if you've never heard of it. Or, if you have, you may have heard some of the rumors. I assure you, it's all very real and there's a lot of science in it. It's not all 'spooky Mulder' down in the basement anymore."  
  
Dana knew she shouldn't do it, but she couldn't let herself be patronized by this rookie agent. And what was this 'anymore' business? It was never 'spooky Mulder' down in the basement.  
  
"I do know the X-Files. I actually worked down there for about 7 years ago, until right before they closed. Believe me, I know all about the balance between the science and the paranormal. And Mulder was never really 'spooky.'"  
  
"Well, that I know. I know Fox quite well."  
  
'Fox?' Dana thought.  
  
Kassie continued, "It's a lot more professional and business like now. There will be more cooperation with and from the rest of the Bureau. Less rule breaking and general problems. What did you say your name was, by the way?" Kassie was the one smirking now.  
  
"Dana Scully. Are you here with Mulder?"  
  
"Yeah, he's at the gate with my partner. We're flying out for our first gate. Why do you ask?"  
  
"Oh, just thought I'd say hello. He was my partner for 7 years. What gate are you flying out of?"  
  
"D-10. Flight to San Diego."  
  
'Shit,' Dana thought. She had just wanted to get away from the argument while putting the woman in her place. Now she was going to be stuck on a plane with her daughter's father who wanted nothing to do with either of them. If she hadn't started this asinine conversation, she would have been happily unaware that they were sharing a plane. It was a big plane; they might not have ever crossed paths. You know what they say, ignorance is bliss.  
  
"Well, I've got to get my kids ready for early boarding, so I'll be going. Good luck on your case." With that, she started to gather Emma and Danny and their things. The woman looked at her and raised her eyebrows at the brush-off. Then she shrugged and turned on her heel and left with her coffee. She left the sunflower seeds on the counter. Dana picked them up and, sighing, paid for them. She was not looking forward to this flight.  
  
Emma was getting tired now. She was dragging her bag on the floor and her eyelids were drooping. She would probably sleep the entire flight. At least that would make this easier. Maybe she could avoid Mulder. She might have to see him, but maybe he wouldn't see her.  
  
She walked slowly up to the gate. D-10 was at the end of the terminal. The entire terminal emptied into the waiting area. As they approached the crowd of chairs, she scanned the crowd that was milling around. She saw Kassie standing with two suited men by the windows. One was shorter and blond, and the other was Mulder. She recognized him even though his back was to her. Hi dark suit accented his broad shoulders and his brown hair was shorter than the week before. She bit her lip and steered Danny's stroller toward a few open chairs as far away from the agents as she could get.  
  
Dana settled Emma into one of the open seats and sat down next to her in the other. She slouched down, avoiding the windows. Emma had drifted off to sleep and Danny's thumb was in his mouth, which meant that sleep was coming. There was still 20 minutes before the pre-boarding began, and she wished she could just sleep. But all she could do was space out. She stared straight forward, not letting herself think about anything. It worked until the woman's voice came over the loudspeaker announcing that anyone requiring assistance or traveling with small children should begin the pre- boarding process.  
  
Realizing that both her children were now fast asleep, Dana sighed. She would have to carry Emma down the jet way and then Danny also once they were on the plane. Strollers never came onto the actual plane, so she would have to somehow hold both of them. She considered waking Emma, but then she was likely to be awake for the rest of the trip. She would have to be carried.  
  
She picked up Emma's back pack, her own lap top case, and Danny's toy bag. Trying to juggle all that, she picked up her four year old daughter who was much harder to carry while sleeping. She started pushing the stroller with one hand toward the gate. She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"I'll take her if you want," a male voice said. She turned, but she didn't need to. She'd know that voice anywhere.  
  
"Mulder." 


	13. Reconciliations

CHAPTER 13  
  
"Scully."  
  
"I'm not Scully anymore."  
  
"Ok, Dana. Can we talk?"  
  
"I guess."  
  
"I'm sorry. I really am. I shouldn't have reacted that way. I should have been more compassionate. But, it was just a bit of a shock, you know. I mean, how would you react if."  
  
"Mulder, I really need to get on this plane. Are you going to help me or not?"  
  
"Yeah. I'll take her." Mulder took his sleeping daughter from Dana. He looked down at her and Dana's heart broke. Seeing Mulder and his daughter together for the first time was too much for her. She just hoped that he wouldn't hurt Emma. She had been through enough already.  
  
"Come on." They boarded the plane and found a group of four seats together. Settling the kids in next to each other, Dana and Mulder didn't speak to each other. Once they too were seated, she looked at him.  
  
"Mulder, I need you to know a few things. I never meant to hurt you. I didn't know what to do though. You have to understand, I was lost and confused when I was with Patrick. He had an effect on me that made me lose all common sense. I never should have stayed with him after the first problems. Hell, I never should have married him. But I did, and I can't change the past. You know that as much as I do. The past has already happened and there's nothing I can do about it. So I'm going to ask you to forgive me, not for me, but for our daughter. She can't be hurt again. She's been through so much already, and I can't see her in pain anymore. Either you can accept my apology and be a father to Emma, or you can make me live with my mistake. It's your choice and I will understand whatever decision you make. But you can't take us back now and then hurt my daughter later. If you accept her as your daughter, you have to be in it for the long haul. This is a lifetime commitment I'm asking you to make. You don't ever have to love me, as a friend or otherwise, but you do have to love our daughter. You have to put aside whatever anger you have for me when you are dealing with her. Don't take my mistakes out on her. She's so ready to love. She has a beautiful heart, and there's a hole in it that only her father can fill - her real father. So please Mulder, make your decision now, before she wakes up and sees you here. She already likes you as her mom's friend. Now she needs to love you as her father."  
  
"Scully, first of all, I came to you today to tell you that I was sorry. I know that you did what you had to do and I can't expect you to change the past. Granted, it does hurt that you raised our daughter with another man, but it's in the past and I should just be thankful to have another chance. I will always resent the fact that Patrick saw her before I did, that he held her, and was there for all her firsts. But having a daughter with you is really all I ever wanted in life. The whole time we were investigating all those X-Files, all I wanted was to tell you how I felt and to settle down with you. Yeah, the cases were my life before, and finding my sister and the truth was vital to me. But that was before you. You came along, and even when you were just a friend to me, you filled the void in my life that had been empty since my sister disappeared when I was a kid. I didn't need the search after I met you. But I kept it up because I was scared. I was scared of what would happen if I put myself on the line. I didn't want to lose someone I loved again. But I lost you anyway. I really didn't want to have to see you marry him, but you did, and a part of me died. But I threw myself back into my work, the way that I did when I was starting out at the Bureau. That was my defense mechanism. But Scully, I don't need it anymore, not if I can have you and a family. So don't ask me to take our daughter without you Scully. I want you both. I want Danny too. You can all be my family. I sure as hell need as much as I can get."  
  
"Oh Mulder. Are you sure that you can forgive me?"  
  
"Scully, I would jump off a bridge if it meant I could be with you. You are really all I want in life."  
  
"Ok. Well all there is left to do is to talk to the kid. I don't know if she will understand. But she needs to know."  
  
They both looked at Emma. She was still sound asleep. They looked at each other and smiled. It was time to catch up on a few things.  
  
A/N: Oh man, I am so sorry that took so long. I didn't mean it too. But I get super busy and super lazy. I promise that there is maybe one or two more chapters remaining and they will be up before the holidays. And then I am going to start on a long HP fic. I wrote a short stand alone one, check it out. It's called "Love Will Light the Shadows on Your Face." I am also starting something for fictionpress.com or whatever it is that takes original fiction. I don't know how long that will take, or if it will ever be done. My user name will be the same on there as it is here. Check it out in the future! Thanks for reading and please please please review!!! (That was one long A/N!!) 


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